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BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
REPORT OF ARCHIVES COMMITTEE
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2008
The Archives Committee scheduled 11 meetings in 2008, one of which was cancelled because of snow. In 2007 we met 9 times and 10 times in 2006. The average attendance at our meetings, inclusive of guests, was 8, as compared to 6 in 2007 and 8 in 2006. Regular attendees at our meetings were David Ashenden, Len Batchelder, Al Campbell, Rick Conard, Ron dePierre, Rick Hurst, Dick Lynch, Gareth Thomas, and Ellis Walker. Most meetings also included one or more guests. Our friend and committee member Dick Lynch passed away during the year. Dick’s specialties were researching genealogical requests and indexing. He spent countless hours indexing the B&M Bulletin and the B&M Employees Magazine, which are now two very important tools for researchers in the Archives.
The work at our Archives sessions consists of researching requests for information, organizing our collection, and processing and filing new acquisitions. Our electronic catalog now numbers some 5,200 entries. David Ashenden has undertaken the task of integrating our file-card catalog into the electronic catalog. In addition he has continued his work to organize our collection of architectural drawings and to complete a list of station drawings. Both the catalog and the station drawing list are available on the Society’s website.
We logged in a total of 45 donations in 2008, as compared to 43 donations in 2007 and 60 in 2006, including material donated by Chris Ahrens, David D. Ashenden, Vincent H. Bernard, Carl Byron, Elaine and Robert Bukowiecki, Al Campbell, R. Richard Conard, Marjorie Wood Danforth, Mark Day in memory of Theodore Chipman and Grace P. Day, A. Drew, Alden H. Dreyer, Edward A. Felton, F.X. Giacoma, Roderick C. Hall, Jr., Nancy Hobitz, Richard K. Hurst, Emmons Lancaster, Schuyler G. Larrabee, II, Mike Lennon, John H. Loynes, George D. McCarthy, Carol McShane, Dusty Miller, William S. Moore, Dick Nichols, Mark A. Nickerson in memory of Eugene F. Matthews, Frederick N. Nowell, III, Stephen W. Quinn, Jimi Smith, David Thompson, Samuel Vaughan, Jr., Robert Warren, Tom Wentworth, Robert F. Wilner, Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum, and Steve Wilcox.
We extend warmest thanks to all our donors for their generosity and their interest in our work of preserving the history of the Boston and Maine Railroad, its predecessors and successors. We encourage our members and friends to donate additional material to our growing collection. We will also appreciate receiving information about potential donors.
We devoted considerable time to reorganizing our flat files of right of way and track maps, and structure and mechanical component drawings as well as our periodical collection. Al Campbell, Ron dePierre, David Ashenden, and Gareth Thomas assisted with this work.
There was a significant increase in research requests this year. We responded to 197 requests for information in 2008, compared to 119 requests in 2007, 156 in 2006, 153 in 2005, 114 in 2004, and 140 in 2003. All this work could not be completed at our monthly sessions; many of our committee members have volunteered “off-hours” time to answer research questions, including Vin Bernard, Al Campbell, Rick Conard and Ellis Walker.
This year we made some progress in executing our emerging “master plan” to make the most popular materials in our collection available for use in the Archives in Lowell, and to expand the role of our storage location at North Chelmsford to house cataloged overflow materials, less likely to be called for by our patrons. In furtherance of our plan we have taken 600 feet of additional area in North Chelmsford. Jim Nigzus and members of the Hardware Committee have been most generous with their time in fitting this new space out for our use.
Toward the end of the year we were informed that budget cuts at the University of Lowell had caused the Center for Lowell History to attenuate its hours, and most importantly for us, to be closed on Saturdays. We are hopeful that this situation will not endure beyond June 2009. In the meantime we have made plans for the Committee to meet on Saturdays at North Chelmsford and at the Archives on Tuesday evenings.
As always we welcome new committee members. Get started by attending one of our monthly meetings. Contact us for details and times.
Your chairman is, as always impressed and inspired by how much can be done by volunteers.
Respectfully submitted,
Frederick N. Nowell, III
Chairman, Archives Committee
Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society
fnowell3@yahoo.com
